


To Mourn

by Kayuri



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24109699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayuri/pseuds/Kayuri
Summary: She left. Too soon. Too late to say goodbye.(Or: Hornet mourns for the mother she barely got to spend time with)
Relationships: Herrah the Beast & Hornet (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	To Mourn

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to write this. Mother's Day is... a somber affair right now for me, and I'm probably projecting a lot onto Hornet and Herrah here. I defeated Herrah yesterday, and when she died I almost began to cry because her situation with Hornet rang close to home to me. I waited until after getting the King's Brand to break Herrah's seal because I wanted to give Hornet the chance to grieve, something I personally haven't quite managed yet. Let it be said, cancer is the worst thing that can happen...

The clack of her feet rang hollow in the tunnels, webs dampening the sound. Few beings still wandered the halls of the Beast's Den, the few Deeplings not yet old enough to know what she did, the Devouts willfully ignoring it. A sigh escaped Hornet as she sat down next to the place where Herrah was enshrined, not looking at the form of the little Vessel lying next to her, dwarfed by Herrah's gargantuan mass.

"I never got the chance to say Goodbye." Hornet's voice broke the silence. "You... the moments with you, the ones I remember... they were precious. But too few." The princess protector stoically looked down, inspecting her Needle. She refused to look at her Mother, taking small solace in the silence. No one heard her. The Devouts were far away, the little ghost was bound in Dream. Hornet shuddered. She could show some weakness now. No one would notice if her facade cracked.

"No one wanted to tell me why you didn't wake up. They all just ushered me away. Sealed the Den. Then the Wyrm came. Gave me to the Hive." Another sigh.

"Vespa wasn't a bad person, but she wasn't you. No one could... can... replace you. But she gave me a name. She named me Hornet, Mother. I like to think you would have liked that name. Fierce and deadly." A small, hiccuping laugh.

"As fierce and deadly as you were. I always tried to be like you. You were the one person I wanted to make proud. What do I care for the wyrm? He disappeared fast, and Vespa was more like a distant mentor." Hornet fell silent, then put one hand onto the stone dais next to her mother. She trembled a bit, then looked at Herrah.

"But I never got the chance, did I? That thrice damned _infection_ stole that from me. From us." Finally precious few tears slipped out.

"The wyrm stole it from us. He stole so much, gave so little..." Hornet blinked away the tears when she saw that Herrah's body began to glow softly, started to dissolve into Dream Motes.

"The worst thing though.... I never got to say goodbye." A flash of light. More Dream Motes.

"And now... it is too late. That is the one thing I will forever hold against you. I never got to say goodbye." A final flash of light. The Vessel stirred. Got up. Looked at Hornet. Nodded. Left. Moments later, the soft patter of tears on stone filled the silence of the chamber.

"I never got to say Goodbye."


End file.
